The governor of the Chinese central bank says that it has not assembled a concrete timeline for the launch of its much-anticipated central bank digital currency (CBDC).
In late April PBOC announced that it had already commenced trials of the CBDC in at least four cities around China, including Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an New District and Chengdu.
At a press conference held on 26 May during China’s Two Sessions congressional meeting, People’s Bank of China (PBOC) governor Yi Gang (易纲) said that research and development of the CBDC was “abiding by the principles of steady progress, security, controllability, innovation and pragmatism.”
We are conducting internal closed trials and testing at Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an, Chengdu and also in future the Winter Olympics sites, in order to test theoretical reliability, systemic stability, functional practicality, convenience of procedures, site suitability and risk controllability.
Yi pointed out however that at present trials of digital currency are merely “standard work” that is part of the research and development process, and “do not signify the official issuance of the digital renminbi,” while “there is not yet a timetable for official launch.”
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